By: Joe Lami
The Stanford Cardinal (17-1,7-0) returned to Maples Pavilion on Friday night, where they hosted the UCLA Bruins (10-10,4-4). The Cardinal were victorious, as they defeated the Bruins by the final score of 72-55.
It was a tight one at the half, where the Bruins were only down by one. The tightness continued throughout, as it seemed like the Bruins were always at the heels of the Cardinal. Stanford is one of those teams that usually sees a point where they breakaway from their opponent. In this game, it never had that feeling.
Fouls were being called early, as the referees weren’t allowing much contact. Four total fouls were called in the first four-minutes. The foul calling would continue in the first half, as Stanford went into the bonus just nine minutes into the game. The first half saw a combined 17 fouls. The second half would be the polar opposite of the first half, as it seemed like nothing was getting called. There were some especially hard fouls that were going unnoticed.
Stanford started out of the gates strong leading 8-4 going into the first media break at the, with threes coming from Lili Thompson and Sara James. UCLA would battle their way back however, and would keep it close throughout the first half, which saw 12 different lead changes. Stanford had its’ biggest lead of the first, of eight, at the 5:30 mark. UCLA minimized it though to end the half, as Stanford went in leading 36-35.
Stanford would come out of the half hot once again, as they went on a 13-4 run to start it off. This would give Stanford the edge that they needed, as they were able to hold the lead for the rest of the game. Stanford didn’t see it first double-digit lead until 12:05 into the second half. Stanford would ride out the rest of the game towards a 72-55 victory.
Chiney Ogwumike led the way for the Cardinal, with 21 points and 15 rebounds to record her 14th double-double of the season. Thompson was second in scoring with 15, Eric McCall led the bench with 12, and James had 11, including going 3 for 3 from beyond the arc. She ended up just one shy of her season high.
Atonye Nyingifa led the way for the Bruins with 18 points, as the 6th-year Senior hit her average. She also brought down eight rebounds, five of them coming on the offensive side of the ball. Nirra Fields contributed 13, and was the only other Bruin to get into double digits in scoring.
There were two big stories on the night for the Cardinal, and they were having too many turnovers and giving up too many offensive rebounds. The Cardinal ended the night with 16 turnovers, which lead to 14 points for UCLA. The Bruins also brought down 16 offensive rebounds, which led to 11 2nd chance points for UCLA. Tara VanDerveer talked about both things after the game saying “I was really disappointed in the offensive rebounds, and the turnovers. We need to do a better job keeping them off of the boards and do a better job of taking care of the ball. It just gives us something to work on before Monday.”
The Cardinal extend their impressive winning streak to 17 games, and have until Monday before they host the USC Women of Troy.
Sports Radio Service 